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Last weekend 5 Alice friends drove down to Curtin Springs, 80ks east of Uluru, to make paper from native grasses at the paper mill the Severin family have created in the Old Abattoir on the station.

Arriving at Curtin Springs just after 10am, Saturday was nearly a full day of paper making: it was cool, it was wet, it was endlessly fascinating and very productive. It was also a wonderful cooperative activity, as much of what we did required more than one set of  novice hands. With Amee and Lydia’s expert guidance we made beautiful paper from Spinifex, Kangaroo and Kerosene Grass. To finish the day we drove to a vantage point to see the sunset over Mt Conner. We sipped champagne and I (Deb) drew the mountain, (on the beautiful paper of course). The next day we used the paper we had made to experiment further, make things … engage in creative play. I took along a host of tools and materials for this purpose and we set up a workspace in the original homestead, the Bough Shed.

It was a great weekend, not only as a creative escape, but for its insights into the life of a working cattle station; a  glimpse at the tenacity, ingenuity and sheer hard work,  that has kept this one family on that difficult, beautiful land for nearly 60 years. It is interesting to see those same qualities put to a creative end. The resulting paper is exceptional. It is the possibility of working with a material made from the land that is so inspiring.

Click any image to see slide show and captions.

It was great to return to Palm Valley. Such a diverse landscape, with a colour palette that is unique to this particular pocket of Central Australia.  The rocks, Hermmansburg Sandstone,  are a much deeper red, the repetitive shapes of the Silver Indigo look gorgeous on those darker slopes. Its a place of towering majesty juxtaposed against delicate intricacy and I was very pleased to be there with a group that fully appreciated all it has to offer.

Such a great group of wise women they were. Some were very experienced campers and some not but all managed to survive the extremely cold nights with good humour. It was minus 2 apparently, so we woke to very frosty swags and tents. Everyone worked with great enthusiasm and courage, embracing the challenge of new process and materials and generously sharing their skills, stories and support.

Thank you all who came with us to Palm valley in 2015.

The first lot of photos below are Debs.  Additional, amazing photos by Kay Hathway, Palm Valley Creative Camp participant. Kay’s photos, often taken by firelight in the evening, are testimony to just how cold it was when the sun went down and how well we survived.